Michael J. Behe

Darwin's Black Box - The biochemical challenge to evolution.

Associate Professor of Biochemistry Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, PA

The "irreducible complexity" of structures at a molecular level is a modern equivalent to Paley's watch

Michael Behe is part of the intelligent design movement, who also include Phillip E Johnson, William A Dembski, Stephen C Meyer, Paul Nelson, Robert C Koons and Dr. Walter L Bradley.

Darwin admitted: "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely breakdown" (Darwin Origin of Species, 6th ed. NYU, 1988, p. 154).

"No one at Harvard University, no one at the National Institutes of Health, no member of the National Academy of Sciences, no Nobel prize winner--no one at all can give a detailed account of how the cilium, or vision, or blood clotting, or any complex biochemical process might have developed in a Darwinian fashion. But we are here. All these things got here somehow; if not in a Darwinian fashion, then how?" (Behe, Darwin's Black Box, 187).

Here we have evidence of design at the molecular level -- William Paley would be pleased

Irreducible complexity:

What type of biological system could not be formed by "numerous, successive, slight modifications"? Well for starters, a system that is irreducibly complex. By irreducibly complex I mean a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning. An irreducibly complex system cannot be produced directly (that is, by continuously improving the initial function, which continues to work by the same mechanism) by slight, successive modifications of a precursor system, because any precursor to an irreducibly complex system that is missing a part is by definition nonfunctional. An irreducibly complex biological system, if there is such a thing, would be a powerful challenge to Darwinian evolution. Since natural selection can only choose systems that are already working, then if a biological system cannot be produced gradually it would have to arise as an integrated unit, in one fell swoop, for natural selection to have anything to act on. Michael J. Behe in Darwin's Black Box

Examples given are: mousetrap, blood clotting, cilium, flagellum, immune system, intracellular transport.

Darwin's Black Box The biochemical challenge to evolution.

• Darwin's Black Box : The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution by Michael J. Behe. Within the biochemistry of living cells, he argues, life is "irreducibly complex." This is the last black box to be opened, the end of the road for science. Faced with complexity at this level, Behe suggests that it can only be the product of "intelligent design." Read the 294 reviews at Amazon lots of evolutionists hot under the collar, whatever you think of it he has opened Pandora's box..
  
  
  
  
  

Reviews of Darwin's Black Box

1. Darwin's Black Box Link Date: 8.1.97. Michael Behe, Free Press, 1996, 307 pages Review by Tom Bethell, "Darwin Revisionism Goes Mainstream," The American Spectator, 1996.
2. Darwin's Black Box Michael Behe shows why Phillip Johnson is wrong in claiming that Darwin created a nonfalsifiable theory ! by Gert Korthof
3. Michael J. Behe (Bookwire)
4. Darel Rex Finley
5. DARWIN'S BLACK BOX
6. How biochemist Michael Behe uses a mousetrap to challenge evolutionary theory. -by Tom Woodward
7. Darwin v. Intelligent Design (Again) The latest attack on evolution is cleverly argued, biologically informed-and wrong. H. Allen Orr
8. Serious about Science
9. Darwin's Black Box Irreducible Complexity or Irreproducible Irreducibility? (Talk Origins) Behe Responds to Postings in Talk Origins Newsgroup
10. Behe's Empty Box Reviews and Criticisms of Michael Behe's book: "Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution" ...and the hypothesis of Intelligent Design - from World of Richard Dawkins
11. American Scientist (Sic) review of 'Darwin's Black Box'
12. Under the Covers: Review
13. Reviewed by Kenneth R. Miller, Professor of Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
14. Scientific American Brief Review
15. the god of the tiny gaps - New Scientist
16. God in the details: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution - Jerry A. Coyne
17. Of Gods and Gaps: Intelligent Design and Darwinian Evolution by Edward B. Davis

For Behe's response to the critics see his articles at Discovery

Other books co-authored by Behe

• Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe by Michael Behe, William A. Dembski, Stephen C. Meyer Dec 2000
• Intelligent Design : The Bridge Between Science & Theology by William A. Dembski, Michael J. Behe
• Mere Creation; Science, Faith & Intelligent Design by William A. Dembski (Editor), et al (Paperback - September 1998)

Essays:

1. Molecular Machines: Experimental Support for the Design Inference
2. Histone deletion mutants challenge the molecular clock hypothesis File Date: 4.7.97. Michael J. Behe, "Histone deletion mutants challenge the molecular clock hypothesis," Trends in Biochemical Science 15: 374-376, October 1990. pdf file (12,414 bytes).
3. Experimental Support for Regarding Functional Classes of Proteins to Be Highly Isolated from Each Other Michael J. Behe
4. Molecular Machines: Experimental Support for the Design Inference

Short articles/letters/responses

1. Defining Evolution
2. Articles by Discovery Senior Fellow Michael Behe Discovery Institute - Behe responds to critics including Ken Miller
3. Darwin Under the MicroscopePope John Paul II's statement last week that evolution is "more than just a theory" is old news to a Roman Catholic scientist like myself.
4. Michael J. Behe On-line Articles - ARN
5. Darwinism: Science or Philosophy
6. The Evolution of a Skeptic- interview
7. The Bacterial Flagellum - as an example of irreducible complexity
8. Behe Responds to Postings in Talk Origins Newsgroup
9. The Cilium - as an example of irreducible complexity
10. Histone deletion mutants challenge the molecular clock hypothesisBook Reviews
11. Behe Responds to the Boston Review The Sterility of Darwinism

Links:

1. Irreducible Complexity? The Challenge!
2. Behe Comes to Georgia
3. The Real Scoop on Michael Behe... ...and why creationism is still a bad idea.
4. Complexity--Yes! Irreducible--Maybe! Unexplainable--No! A Creationist Criticism of Irreducible Complexity
5. Michael Denton - "Evolution: A Theory In Crisis"
6. Evolution: a theory in crisis ? (version 2.3a) review by Gert Korthof
7. Nature's Destiny. How the Laws of Biology reveal Purpose in the Universe." Michael Denton - review by Gert Korthof
8. Evolution in the Boston Review
9. Biochemist Michael Behe has grapsed at the "third rail" of the academy, the shadowland between science and faith. By David R. Boldt. From Lehigh Alumni Bulletin, Winter 1997
10. More Crank Science